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Episode Transcript
Welcome to the Lion Within Us, a podcast
serving Christian men who arehungry to be the leaders God
intends you to be.
I'm your host, Chris Granger.
Let's jump in.
All right, fellas, this is ourChristmas meat episode.
Let's get into it, okay?
So this the uh scripture of theweek this week is Isaiah 7 14.
It says, Therefore the LordHimself will give you a sign,
behold the virgin will conceiveand give birth to a son, and she
(02:07):
will name him Emmanuel.
So I took some time in thespiritual kickoff episode for
this week to unpack that verse,just try to give you a little
bit of encouragement andultimately just share the
gospel.
That's what it's all about.
So hopefully you enjoyed that.
As a reminder, we do them Mondaythrough Friday.
It's called a daily spiritualkickoff.
Okay, you can find all thatstuff, anything we do, guys, the
Lion Within.
That's thelionwithin.us.
(02:29):
But for this episode, we'regonna do something a little bit
different, okay?
I just want to read theChristmas story from God's word
for you.
Okay, so we're gonna look atMatthew 1 and 2, and we're also
gonna look at the version Luketogether.
And my simple hope during thisis uh this is a busy time of
year.
It's a crazy busy time of yearfor lots of us, right?
(02:51):
And cool part about podcasts,you consume them while you're on
the go.
So maybe during the next fewminutes, uh you can just my hope
is that you simply soak in God'sword.
And there's so many distractionspulling at us right now.
Uh, and I pray this just givesyou encouragement and the hope
that he desires for you thistime of year.
(03:13):
And really hope you just enjoythis time together.
There's nothing like his word.
So I'm not gonna really addanything or reflections to it.
We're just gonna read thistogether.
And uh, if you want to, you canalways use this podcast with
your kids and with your family.
If you just want to throw thison and just let it play in the
background and have God's worduh just be a reminder of what we
(03:37):
truly are celebrating this year,okay?
All right.
So in Matthew chapter one,starting in verse uh eighteen,
it says now the birth of JesusChrist was as follows When his
mother Mary had been betrothedto Joseph before they came
together, she was found to bewith child by the Holy Spirit.
(03:57):
And Joseph, her husband, being arighteous man and not wanting to
disgrace her, planned to sendher away secretly.
But when he had considered this,behold, an angel of the Lord
appeared to him in a dream,saying, Joseph, son of David, do
not be afraid to take Mary asyour wife, for the child who has
been conceived in her is of theHoly Spirit.
(04:20):
She will bear a son, and youwill shook and you shall call
his name Jesus, for he will savehis people from their sins.
Now all of this took place tofulfill what was written or was
spoken by the Lord through theprophet.
Behold, the virgin shall be withchild and shall bear a son, bear
a son, and they shall call hisname Emmanuel.
(04:41):
That sound familiar?
That's our scripture we guess,which is translated means God
with us.
And Joseph awoke from his sleepand did as the angel of the Lord
commanded him, and took Mary ashis wife, but kept her a virgin
until she gave birth to a son,and he called his name Jesus.
Now chapter two verse one says,Now after Jesus was born in
(05:02):
Bethlehem of Judah, of Judea, inthe days of Herod the king, a
Magi from the east arrived fromJerusalem, saying, Where is he
who has been born king of theJews?
For we shall saw his star in theeast and have come to worship
him.
When Herod the king heard this,he was troubled, and all
Jerusalem with him.
(05:22):
Gathering together all the chiefpriests and scribes of the
people, he inquired of themwhere the Messiah was to be
born, and they said to him, InBethlehem of Judah, of Judah,
for this is where what this iswhat has been written by the
prophet, and you, Bethlehem,land of Judah, are to by no
means least among the leaders ofJudah, for out of you shall come
(05:46):
forth a ruler who will be ashepherd, who will shepherd my
people Israel.
Then Hera secretly called theMagi and determined from them
the exact time the starappeared, and he sent them to
Bethlehem and said, Go andsearch carefully for the child,
and when you have found him,report to me, so that I too may
(06:07):
come and worship him.
Mm-hmm.
That wasn't in the scripture.
But anyway, we'll keep going.
After hearing the king, theywent their way, and the star
which they had seen in the east,went on before them, until it
came and stood over the placewhere the child was.
When they saw the star, theyrejoiced exceedingly with great
joy.
After coming into the house theysaw the child with Mary his
(06:31):
mother, and they fell on theground and worshipped him.
Then opening their treasuresthey presented him with gifts of
gold, frankincense, and myrrh,and having been warned by God in
a dream not to return to Herod,the Magi left for their own
country by another way.
Now when the Lord when they hadgone, behold an angel of the
(06:54):
Lord appeared to Joseph in adream, and said, Get up, take
the child and his mother andflee to Egypt, and remain there
until I tell you, for Herod isgoing to search for the child to
destroy him.
So Joseph got up, took thechild, his mother while he was
still at night, and left forEgypt.
He remained there until thedeath of Herod, which is which
was to fulfill what had beenspoken by the Lord through his
(07:15):
prophet, out of Egypt I calledmy son.
And all then Herod saw that hehad been tricked by the Magi,
became very enraged, and he sentand slew all the male children
who were in Bethlehem and allthe in and all its fixed
vicinity, from two years old andunder, according to the time
which it determined from theMagi.
(07:35):
Then what has been spokenthrough to Jeremiah the prophet
was fulfilled.
A voice was heard in Rama,weeping in great mourning,
racial Rachel weeping for herchildren, and she refused to be
comforted because there were nomore.
But when Herod died, behold anangel of the Lord appeared in
the drink to Joseph in Egypt,and said, Get up, take the child
and his mother, and go into theland of Israel.
(07:57):
For those who sought to whosought the child's life are
dead.
So Joseph got up, took the childand his mother, and came to the
land of Israel.
But when he heard that Archileuswas reigning over Judea in the
place of his father Herod, hewas afraid to go there.
Then after being warned by Godin a dream, he left for the
regions of Galilee, and came toand came and lived in a city
(08:18):
called Nazareth.
This was to fulfill what spokenthrough the prophets.
He shall be called a Nazarene.
Alright, now so that is theChristmas account in the gospel
of Matthew.
Now, if we flip over to Luke,we're going to start at verse
26.
Okay, verse 26 in Luke.
(08:39):
And this is going to sound veryfamiliar and familiar.
We're going to go through 240.
Okay.
So it says, now in the sixthmonth the angel Gabriel was sent
from God to a city in Galileecalled Nazareth, to a virgin
engaged to a man who was whosename was Joseph, of the
descendants of David, and thevirgin's name was Mary.
(09:01):
And coming in, he said to her,Greetings, favored one, the Lord
is with you.
But she was very perplexed atthis statement, and kept
pondering what kind ofsalutation this was.
The angel said to her, Do not beafraid, Mary, for ye have found
favor with God, and behold, youwill conceive in your womb and
bear a son, and you shall namehim Jesus.
He will be great, and will becalled the Son of the Most High,
(09:24):
and the Lord God will give himthe throne of his father David,
and he will reign over the houseof Jacob forever, and his
kingdom will have no end.
Mary said to the angel, How canthis be?
Since I'm a virgin?
The angel answered and said toher, The Holy Spirit will come
upon you, and the power of themost high will overshadow you,
(09:45):
and for that reason the holychild shall be called the Son of
God.
And behold, even your relativeElizabeth has also conceived a
son in her old age, and she whowas called barren is now in her
sixth month, for nothing will beimpossible with God.
And Mary said, Behold, the bondslave of the Lord, may it be
done to me according to yourword.
(10:07):
And the angel departed from her.
Now at this time Mary arose andwent in a hurry to the hill
country, to the city of Judah,and entered the house of
Zacharias and greeted Elizabeth.
When Elizabeth heard Mary'sgreeting, the baby leapt in her
womb, and Elizabeth was filledwith the Holy Spirit, and she
cried out with a loud voice andsaid, Blessed are you among
(10:29):
women, and blessed is the fruitof your womb.
And how it had happened to methat the mother of my Lord would
come to me.
For behold, when the sound ofyour greeting reached my ears,
the baby leaped in my womb forjoy, and blessed is she who
believed that there would be afulfillment, and would have been
spoken to her by the Lord.
And Mary said, My soul exaltsthe Lord, and my spirit has
(10:52):
rejoiced in my in God, mySavior, for he has had regard
for the humble state of his bondslave.
For behold, from this time onall generations will count on me
blessed, for the mighty one hasdone great things for me, and
holy is his name, and his mercyis up is upon generation after
generation toward those who fearhim.
(11:13):
He has done mighty deeds withhis arm, he has scattered those
who were proud to the thoughtsof their hearts, he has brought
down the rulers from thethrones, and has exalted those
who were humble, he has filledthe hungry with good things, and
has sent the rich sent away therich empty handed.
He has given help to Israel, hisservant, in remembrance
(11:33):
remembrance of his mercy, and hehas spoken to our fathers, to
Abraham and to his descendantsforever.
And Mary stayed with her aboutthree months and then returned
to her home.
Verse fifty seven says, Now thetime had come for Elizabeth to
give birth, and she gave birthto her son, her neighbors and
her relatives heard that her theLord had displayed his great
mercy toward her, and they wererejoicing with her.
(11:55):
And it happened on the eighthday that they came to circumcise
a child, and after they weregoing to call him Zacharius, uh
Zacharias, after his father, buthis mother answered and said,
No, indeed he shall be calledJohn.
They said to her, There is noone among your relatives that's
called by that name.
And they made signs for to hisfather as to what he wanted him
called, and asked for and heasked for a tablet to write as
(12:17):
follows, His name is John.
And they all were astonished,and at once his mouth was open
and his tongue loose, and hebegan to speak praise to God.
Fear came all over all overthose living around them, all
over the matters were beingtalked about in the hill country
of Judea, and who heard themkept coming to mind saying, What
(12:37):
then will this child turn out tobe?
For his hand of the Lord wascertainly with him.
And this f follows Zacharias.
Zacharias has been filled withthe Holy Spirit and prophesied,
saying, Blessed be the Lord ourGod of Israel, for he has
visited us and accomplishedredemption for his people, and
has raised up a horn ofsalvation for us in the house of
David his servant, as he hasspoken by the mouth of his holy
(12:58):
prophets from the old, salvationfrom our enemies, and from the
land of the hand of all who willhate us, to show mercy toward up
towards our fathers and toremember his holy covenant,
those which he swore to Abraham,our father, to grant us, that
we, being rescued from the handof our enemies, might serve him
without fear, and holiness andrighteousness before him in our
(13:19):
days, and you, child, be calledthe prophet of the most high,
for you will go on before theLord to prepare his ways, to
give his people the knowledge ofsalvation, by the forgiveness of
their sins, because their tendermercy of our God with which the
sunrise from the high on highwill visit us, to shine upon
those who sit in darkness in theshadows of death, and to guide
(13:42):
our feet in the way of peace.
And the child continued to growand become strong in spirit, and
he lived in the deserts unto theday of his public appearance in
Israel.
Now chapter two.
Now in those days a decree wentout from Caesar Augustus that a
census shall be taken of all theinhabited earth.
This was the first census takenby Cornerius the governor of
(14:04):
Syria, and everyone was on hisway to register for the census
each to his own city.
Joseph went up from Galilee,Galilee, to the city of
Nazareth, to Judea, to the cityof David, which is called
Bethlehem, because he was thehouse and family of David, in
order to register along withMary, who was engaged to him,
and was with child.
While they were there, the dayswere completed for her to give
(14:26):
birth, and she gave birth to herfirstborn son, and she wrapped
him in cloths and laid him in amanger, because there was no
room for them in the inn.
In the same region there weresome shepherds staying out in
the fields and keeping overtheir watch over their flock by
night.
And an angel of the Lordsuddenly stood before them, and
the glory of the Lord shone overthem, and they were terribly
(14:46):
frightened.
But the angel said to them, Donot be afraid, for behold, I
bring you good news of greatjoy, which is for all people.
For today in the city of David,there is been born for you a
Savior who is Christ the Lord.
This will be a sign for you.
You will find a baby wrapped incloths and lying in a manger.
(15:07):
And suddenly there were appearedwith the angel a multitude of
the heavenly hosts, praising Godand saying, Glory to God in the
highest, and on earth peaceamong men with whom he is
pleased.
When the angels had gone awayfrom them into heaven, the
shepherds began saying to oneanother, Let's go straight to
Bethlehem then, and see firstthing what has happened, which
(15:28):
which the Lord has made known tous.
So they came in a hurry andfound their way to Mary and
Joseph and the baby as he lay ina manger.
When they had seen this, theymay have they made known the
statement which had been told tothem about the child, and they
and all who heard it wondered atthese things, which they were
told them by the shepherds.
(15:49):
But Mary treasured all thesethings, pondering them in her
heart.
The shepherds went back,glorifying and praising God for
all they had heard and seen,just that has been told to them.
Now verse 21.
Okay, so twenty-one says, Let'ssee, and when eight days had
passed before his circumcision,his name was then called Jesus,
(16:13):
the name given to him by theangel before he was conceived in
the womb.
And when the days for thepurification according to the
law of Moses were complete, theybrought him to Jerusalem to
present him to the Lord, as itwas written in the law of the
Lord, every firstborn mare malethat opens the womb shall be
called hol shall be called holyto the Lord, and offer a
(16:34):
sacrifice according to what wassaid of the Lord in the land of
land of the Lord, the law of theLord, a pair of turtle doves, or
two young pigeons.
And there was a man inJerusalem, whose name was
Simeon, and this man wasrighteous and devout, looking
for consolation on Israel, andthe Holy Spirit was upon him,
and he had been revealed to himby the Holy Spirit that he would
(16:54):
not see death before he had seenthe Lord's Christ.
How about that?
Verse 27.
And he came into this he cameinto the spirit of the temple,
and when the young parentsbrought the child brought in the
child Jesus to carry out for himthe custom of the law, then he
took him into his arms andblessed God and said, Now, Lord,
you are releasing yourbondservant to depart in peace,
(17:15):
according to your word, for myeyes have seen your salvation,
which you have prepared in thepresence of all peoples, a light
of the revelation to theGentiles and the glory of your
people in Israel, and his fatherand his mother were amazed at
the things which were being saidabout him, and Simeon blessed
him, and said to Mary hismother, Behold, this child is
(17:37):
anointed, is appointed for thefall and rise of many in Israel,
and for a good for a sign to beopposed, and a sword will pierce
even your own soul, to the endthat thoughts from many hearts
may be revealed.
And there was a prophetess,Anna, that the daughter of Fano
and the tribe of the tribe ofAsher.
She advanced she was advanced inyears and had lived with her
(18:01):
husband seven years after hermarriage, and then as a widow,
at the age of eighty-four, shenever left the temple, serving
night and day with fasting andprayers.
At that very moment she came upand began giving thanks to God
and continued to speak to him,to all those who were looking
for redemption of Jerusalem.
(18:23):
All right, yeah.
Let's shout out verse 39 and 40.
It says, When they had performedeverything according to the law
of the Lord, they returned toGalilee, to their own city of
Nazareth.
The child continued to grow andbecome strong, increasing in
wisdom, and the grace of God wasupon him.
So that's it, fellas.
That's that's your scripturethat really points to everything
(18:47):
what this season is all about.
And the question of the week washow will you share the true
meaning of Christmas this year?
My encouragement to you is maybejust share this podcast or take
the verses that we just wentthrough there in Matthew and
Luke and read them.
Read them out loud, read them toyour family instead of the night
(19:08):
before Christmas.
Maybe actually just read God'sword and let that just just
resonate and just and just bewhat your home, your home,
chooses to focus on this year.
So Merry Christmas from me, frommy family, from every all of us
here at Delion Within Us.
(19:28):
Uh again, you can connect withus to LionWithin.us for all our
fun stuff there.
We are going to have a funFriday episode.
So hopefully you'll come backand hang out with us there.
So have a great day.
Merry Christmas again.
And keep on leashing the lifewithin.
If you're tired of going at italone, we understand every man
(19:49):
needs wise counsel, but findingit can be quite the challenge.
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